That recipe looks amazing - something Mr Bean would adore. Thanks for the tip.
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Today we had cawl cennin which is basically just a Welsh leek soup. I topped mine with goat’s cheese and served it with homemade, warm soda bread. It was delicious, zingy from plenty of lemon juice and perfect for the snowy weather outside. Never thought it would be this cold in March.
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Linguine with lip-smacking, garlicky clam sauce. Yarden salad on the side. Our final spring break visit meal 
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One of my favorite dishes ever. When I’m felled by famine, it’s something I think of first. I was taught to make it while I was in school by my neighbor who had been married to an Italian and had lived in Italy and when I spent a month in Italy traveling with my parents, I had it at every destination, just for research 
to perfect my version. Sadly, the fresh wee clams in the shell AFAIK have never been legally available here. S’okay, I manage.
There are clams under there, and yes, I went overboard with the snipped parsley. Sad fact: as a kid, we had parsley growing by the back door. And mint. I used to break them off and eat them …
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TBH the thing that annoys me most about the dish with fresh clams is that you have to deal with the shells. They take up too much room, and your dining is interrupted by picking out the tiny morsels, plus you need an extra plate for the shells.
These were canned clams with a bit of bottled clam juice, olive oil, vermouth, a STOG, parsley and lemon zest.
I didn’t find it to be inferior to the fresh clam version and will def put this in my meal rotation 
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I’ve never tried this, but I wonder if a quick dip of the lamb chops into some boiling water with aromatics and wine before drying and grilling might reduce the smell.
Would you mind sharing your recipe? It’s my PIC’s favorite dish, and while I like Kenji’s (love the frozen clams advice), I’m always looking to explore!
I use ether canned or jarred baby clams. A grocery near me used to carry frozen chopped clams; no more. The shells are a pain. I leave those preps to restaurants. Honestly, I’ve never had the dish in a restaurant in this country that tasted as good as what I made at home.
It’s the fresh garlic that’s the most important part😹
And don’t add the clams (fresh or canned) until the last minute; otherwise you’ll be chewing on pencil erasers.
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Shakshuka with peppers, onions, roasted cherry tomatoes, Hatch Chiles, feta and olives. I don’t usually get the eggs to the perfect level of doneness but this one was just about right. The others were a wee bit undercooked and therefore omitted from the picture.
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Sure, but some of my additions are non-traditional. Like a sprinkling of oregano (my neighbor did this). Most recipes call for white wine or vermouth, which I will use, but I’ll use sherry in a pinch. I use the aforementioned STOG (lol. The G stands for garlic). I sprinkle in red pepper flakes.
Oh, you want measurements. My god, I have no clue, I’ve made it for so long without measuring, but I’ll play along …
First thing is to start your pasta, of course. Then, the sauce. I gently preheat my pan, and add a very generous amount of olive oil (depends on the servings) and add the finely minced or garlic pressed garlic - I do not want it to burn or brown, just get soft. Then I add a bit of wine or vermouth or sherry (yes I know they have different flavor profiles, I’m dancing with the one that’s in the fridge. And let it kind of cook off. Then a pinch of oregano ( the horror! Not traditional!) and a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes. Then the clam juice from the canned or jarred clams. The clams stay behind. So this boils up - I want my sauce a little thick, so it doesn’t look like dirty dishwater in the bottoms of the pasta bowls. Now, this thickening can be achieved by adding starchy pasta water, but before I knew about that trick, I always sneaked (well, whisked) in some Wondra flour. Which is actually the same idea- it’s precooked starch. At the last minute, add the clams from the jar/cans so they get warm but not overcooked. Then add the pasta to the sauce and finish it in the pan. Add parsley if you want. Oh, and If the sauce has too much of a bitter edge, add some butter.
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Meatloaf from the nice butcher shop, roasted tomatoes, broccoli, sour cream mashed. The meatloaf had great flavor but weird sausage-like texture - probably insufficient panade.
For the zuppa toscana lovers out there, I made a half batch this morning subbing the leftover wild rice with carrots and celery you have seen on my plate for a few recent dinners (1 cup raw wild rice makes about a cubic yard of cooked) for the potatoes and some sautéed leeks I had for the onions and it was absolutely fantastic for lunch. Can’t wait to have it again tomorrow.
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A HUGE NAY to Trader Joe’s breaded raviolis. (And yes, Ive posted on the 2023 Yay, Meh, Nay TJs thread).
I was not in the mood to cook. These were in my freezer. So I figured why not?
Three ways to cook them: air fryer, pan-fry (recommended), or conventional oven. I went with the 3rd method, using my convection toaster oven.
Method said cook for 10-12 minutes at 425°, turning once.
I cooked at 425° convection for 13 minutes, turning once, then at 350° convection for another 4 minutes for maximum crispiness by this method. Here’s how they looked right out of the oven:
And how they look like inside:
I ate a lot of toasted pasta with a quick marinara sauce and no filling. 
Oh well. At least the non-TJs wine I drank was good. 
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Bummer. Thanks for taking one for the team!
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At least there was wine . You gotta do what you gotta do. I was never a fan of fried raviolis .Cheers
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Baked sole in white wine cream sauce, rice pilaf, salad of mixed greens, roasted beets, pickled shallots, Gorgonzola, and toasted walnuts
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I watched Giada make fried ravioli years ago. Refrigerated ravioli dipped in egg and Italian bread crumbs. Shallow fried in oil. Looked sooo good. I made them and it was just meh. Then I bought some frozen breaded ravioli and felt the same way. They look crispy, cheese filled and delicious, but nothing to write home about in my book.
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Now that’s smart. Thanks!
I made blackened broiled tilapia (from frozen, from an old meal kit) served over cheddar-Parm grits from the freezer with garlicky CSA spinach and buttered steamed broccoli. Not a bad effort considering the crappy protein. It’s really the b/s chicken breast of the fish world.
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